Increased health awareness has led to increased consumption of fresh fruit as a snack food. However, fresh fruits are seasonal, and undergo fairly rapid spoilage. Furthermore, certain fresh fruits such as mango are not easy to consume as a snack food, especially by children.
WO 02/07530 describes a high-fiber vegetable and fruit snack food in the form of a packaged, stabilized bar. The products are made by partially draining liquid from a fruit pulp to produce a high-fiber pulp, and adding a hydrocolloid such as a modified pectin to solidfy the pulp. The resulting product is formed into a bar, packaged, and stablized for example by application of ultra-high pressure (UHP). The products have a solid, chewy consistency due to the high fiber content and the presence of added hydrocolloid. This product is therefore less palatable than fresh fruit or jelly.
WO 94/12055 discloses a method for preparing a fruit or vegetable gel comprising the steps of: the addition of pectinesterase to the fruit or vegetable or to the pulp thereof to demethoxylate a pectin; optionally the addition of calcium chloride; allowing the fruit derived demethoxylated pectin to form a gel; and formulating the thus-treated fruit or vegetable to obtain the desired food. The product is not stable or packaged, and is intended as an intermediate for addition to dairy, bakery or confectionery products.
Susumo Oi and Yukio Satomura in Agr. Biol. Chem. Vol. 29(10), pages 936-942 (1965) describe research into the treatment of fruit juices with a purified pectinmethylesterase (PME) enzyme, optionally with the addition of a calcium salt. The treatment increased the viscosity of the fruit juices. Extended treatment for 200 minutes or more caused some of the juices to form gels. The reference does not discuss stabilization of the gels, nor does it suggest the use of PME for the production of gelled fruit pulps.
WO97/38591 describes improved cold break tomato puree produced by the steps of: (a) applying UHP to inactivate polygalacturonase (PG) but not PME enzymes, (b) incubating the tomato puree with the PME to achieve a thickened consistency, followed by (c) inactivating the PME with heat. There is no disclosure of shelf-stable, packaged, gelled products. Moreover, incubation of tomato puree with PME results in a thickened, but not gelled, product.
EP-A-1431313 describes gelled compositions having a natural fruit texture prepared by treating a sweetened, flavored aqueous solution (not a fruit pulp) with a very low methoxy pectin, calcium, and additional hydrocolloids such as edible gums. The resulting jellies are said to have an in-homogeneous texture similar to that of natural fruit flesh. The jellies may be packaged in a pouch container for direct consumption, in which case they may be thermally stabilized, for example by heating at 90° C. for 20 minutes.
A need remains for a packaged, shelf-stable fresh fruit product that is dimensionally stable for convenient consumption, and that retains the color, flavor, aroma and nutritional qualities of fresh fruit.